Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Nationstar appoints Kevin Dahlstrom as Chief Marketing OfficerNationstar Mortgage Holdings announced the hiring of Kevin Dahlstrom as Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer. In this new role for the company, Dahlstrom will lead all marketing activities across the enterprise with particular focus on analytics-driven, digital and web-based strategies to broaden Nationstarís customer acquisition and retention programs to further the companyís mission to become the leading provider of real estate services.

Nationstar weakness creates buying opportunity, says Wells FargoAfter Nationstar announced a secondary share offering of 17.5M shares, Wells Fargo says the resulting decline in the stock is a buying opportunity as the company is in a strong position for further transfer opportunities. The firm keeps an Outperform rating on the shares.

On The Fly: Closing WrapStocks opened in quiet fashion and trading remained that way throughout most of the morning. The averages broke to the downside a bit before noon and once the sellers gained control the move became broad based. Each of the major equity averages dropped by about 1.5% or more, with the Nasdaq losing more than 2% of its value during the session. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., durable goods orders dropped 1.4% in February, falling well below the consensus call for a 0.2% rise for the month. Transportation orders fell 3.5%, with orders excluding transportation down 0.4% against expectations of a 0.2% positive movement. In Europe, Germany's Ifo institute business climate index rose to 107.9 from 106.8 in March, topping expectations. COMPANY NEWS: Kraft Foods (KRFT) surged $21.84, or 35.62%, to $83.17 after announcing it has entered a definitive merger agreement with H.J. Heinz to create the Kraft Heinz Company. Under the terms of the deal, Heinz-owners Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) and 3G Capital will fund a special $10B cash dividend of $16.50 per share for Kraft shareholders. The new company, which will be publicly traded and 49% owned by current Kraft shareholders 51% owned by current Heinz shareholders, will become the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and fifth largest food and beverage company in the world. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Kofax (KFX), which jumped $3.45, or 46%, to $10.95 after agreeing be acquired by Lexmark (LXK) for $11.00 per share in cash for a total enterprise value of approximately $1B, net of cash acquired. Lexmark, which stated the deal will "nearly double" its enterprise software business to roughly $700M, also gained $2.48, or 6.08%, to $43.27. Among the noteworthy losers was Apollo Education Group (APOL), which fell $7.95, or 28.4%, to $20.04 after reporting Q2 earnings and University of Phoenix enrollment information. Also lower were shares of Nationstar Mortgage (NSM), which declined $5.15, or 16.54%, to $25.99 after its 17.5M share spot secondary offering of stock priced at $28.95 per share. INDEXES: The Dow declined 292.60, or 1.62%, to 17,718.54, the Nasdaq fell 118.21, or 2.37%, to 4,876.52, and the S&P 500 dropped 30.45, or 1.46%, to 2,061.05.

Nationstar files to sell 17.5M shares of common stockNationstar intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may include future acquisitions, transfers of servicing portfolios, funding of advances and repayment of obligations, including corporate indebtedness. These acquisitions are expected to include the acquisition of $60B unpaid principal balance of mortgage servicing rights in process or under letters of intent as of the date of the prospectus supplement, the consummation of which is subject to definitive documentation, regulatory approvals, and/or other customary conditions. Citigroup, Barclays and J.P. Morgan are acting as the underwriters for the offering.

Ocwen to sell additional $25B portfolio to Nationstar Ocwen Financial (OCN) announced that its subsidiary, Ocwen Loan Servicing and Nationstar Mortgage, an indirectly-held, wholly-owned subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings (NSM) have agreed in principle to the sale by Ocwen of residential mortgage servicing rights on a portfolio consisting of approximately 142,000 loans owned by Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae (FNMA) with a total principal balance of approximately $25B. Subject to a definitive agreement, approvals by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and FHFA and other customary conditions, Ocwen and Nationstar expect the transaction to close before mid-year.